Sifting Through All The Information

As the editor of a gun magazine, I get lots of notes from all over about how the gun culture is or isn’t working. There’s lots of “See, I told you so” letters and lots of letters saying if you ever publish (insert a topic) like that again I’ll cancel my subscription. On the same day I will usually get an equal number of letters that say, “I love that story on (insert same topic as above) and want to send it to my no-good brother-in-law. Keep up the good work.”

Well I just keep trying to do the best I can with what I have where I am. I can’t keep everyone happy.

The important thing to remember is that you, the reader, should continue to seek out many forms of information from many sources. I’m confident that the better informed you are, the better Gun Digest the Magazine will look to you. That’s because we simply put the information out there and let you decide.

Yes, we are pro-gun. Yes, we believe that the Obama administration is the worst thing for gun owners since rust. And yes, some of our writers reveal a particular kind of hatred that makes some people uneasy. Sorry about that. But I hope you will take it all in and run it through your personal filter. In the end, you should realize that we are here, publishing what we do, in an effort to be part of the Gun Culture. And when I say Gun Culture (always capitalized) I am making reference to a powerful force for good in this nation.

Now, back to the hype.

New York Mayor Mikey “The Slime” Bloomberg is up to his old tricks. And, as usual, the editorial board of the New York Times is kissing so much Bloomberg butt they could raise a hickey through three layers of long underwear.

The Bloomberg administration hired private investigators to go to gun shows in Nevada, Ohio and Tennessee and are trumpeting the fact that 19 of 30 sellers failed what they call the “integrity test.” I wonder if 19 of 30 politicians would pass the integrity tests. But I digress.

The first rule of looking at a study is to see who funded the study. There are studies funded by the tobacco lobby and the coal industry that say “breathe deeply.” Think about the people who commissioned the study. This study was skewed from the beginning.

Next, let’s stop and think about something. Bloomberg is saying we must close “the gun show loophole” after making only 30 purchases.

I say there is no gun show loophole. Every federally licensed gun dealer must conduct a background check for every sale of every firearm regardless of the location of that sale. End of story.

Now if I go and sell some of my personal property (guns) at a gun show, I don’t have to conduct a background check. Same as if I sold them at a rummage sale in my front yard. Same as if I sold them through a classified ad in the newspaper and the buyer came to pick them up. No loophole. Just the difference between a private sale and a commercial sale.

So don’t believe Bloomberg and his lackies. Write your representative and stress that good people go to gun shows and if laws aren’t followed at the shows, the bad people should go to jail. End of story.
Finally, I heard a great analogy the other day about the idea of private citizens carrying guns for defense. I can’t remember where I heard it, but I didn’t make this up and claim no credit for it.

A gun gives those who are weaker or outnumbered a means to even the odds. Criminals are predators who only attack the weak and those they feel they can subdue quickly. If we take away every gun in the world, the biggest and strongest criminals will have a huge advantage over smaller, older people. Meaning criminals will have a low-risk, high-profit opportunity to get money. With the low risk and high profit potential do you think criminals would be more or less likely to victimize the weak? If all guns were gone, crime would soar.